Dec. 7, 1941

As time has moved on — three-quarters of a century, the voices of the men and women who witnessed and survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor are fading. Federal officials estimate between 2,000 and 2,500 of the 60,000 who survived are still alive, our thinning link to that Day of Infamy.

When we think of Pearl Harbor on Longboat Key, we can’t help but recall one of the town’s late distinguished residents, Lt. Gen. James Edmundson.

He served as a commissioner and mayor in the mid-1980s; was the godfather of the Longboat Key Kiwanis Club for 20-plus years; and wrote a precisely worded, engaging weekly column for the Longboat Observer.

 Edmundson, after whom the town’s post office is named, was emblematic of the heroes of the Greatest Generation — humble to a fault and a patriot whose love of country was exceeded only by his love of his wife, Lee.

Edmundson was at Hickam Field on  that fateful day, the place he earned his Bronze Star and Purple Heart, two of 21 military decorations over a 36-year career, spanning three wars.

In a book of letters he wrote to Lee during his career, “Letters to Lee,” compiled and edited by his late daughter, Cecelia, Edmundson recounted the Pearl Harbor attack. It was classic Edmundson, downplaying the horror he experienced:

“I felt a big bang and was knocked out. When I came to … I felt my head because I couldn’t see out of one eye. There was blood running down, and I felt with my frozen hand. It felt like I had a hole in my head big enough to put my fist into. ‘Well,’ I thought, ‘that’s all she wrote. That’s the end of the road. I’ll just sit here and wait to die.’

“I hadn’t seen anyone just slightly wounded that day. I sat there and waited to die, but nothing seemed to happen. Then, I reached up with the other hand and found out that all I had was a little nick in my head. Feeling very foolish, I got up and went back to work.”

 Edmundson went on to fly 181 combat missions. An ordinary guy, who was extraordinary.